FreeNX and ssh -X [Archive]

t0p

March 9th, 2011, 07:25 PM

I used to use FreeNX from time to time; but then I discovered X-forwarding over ssh (ssh -X) and now I use that instead.

Is there some wonderful functionality of FreeNX that I could be losing out on by using ssh -X exclusively? Or is FreeNX (and its attendant clients) just, as I suspect, a nice, pretty GUI way of doing precisely the same thing?

Please note: this is not a troll post or flame baiting. I know some people hate the CLI with a passion. But, since ssh -X allows you to use GUI programs from the remote machine... why FreeNX?

koenn

March 9th, 2011, 07:50 PM

NX is largely "network optimized" X forwarding : it adds compression and caching

Pogeymanz

March 10th, 2011, 04:08 AM

I was under the impression that FreeNX is more like VNC.

ssh -X (or -Y) is just for running apps from the server, not loading a whole desktop.

koenn

March 10th, 2011, 06:30 PM

I was under the impression that FreeNX is more like VNC.

ssh -X (or -Y) is just for running apps from the server, not loading a whole desktop.

that's a rather superficial division.
You can pull an entire window manager through an ssh -X tunnel, although it's more often used for individual apps.

see also http://nomachine.com/documentation/html/intr-technology.html#3